County Delegation cancels Monday meeting

LACONIA — The Belknap County Delegation has canceled its upcoming Aug. 8 meeting. The only information available on the county website is a single page PDF with the following text:

“The Delegation meeting scheduled for Monday, August 8, 2022 at 9:00am has been cancelled [sic].” 

During a phone interview, County Administrator Debra Shackett read a statement saying, “The business that was noticed for that meeting has been addressed, therefore the meeting is canceled.”

The Daily Sun reached out to delegation Chair Rep. Michael Sylvia of Belmont for clarification, but the call was not immediately returned. 

In a July 28 message to Shackett from Sylvia, the delegation chair wrote, “I am calling for a meeting on Monday morning August 8 at 9:00 a.m. the Purpose of this meeting will be to appoint a replacement for the remainder (as directed by chapter law 399) of the Kiedasich term.”

It is likely the primary business of the proposed meeting was addressed in Monday’s emergency meeting at Gunstock Mountain Resort, where a quorum of 10 delegates met without Sylvia and appointed Denise Conroy to the Gunstock Area Commission to fill former Commissioner Gary Kiedaisch’s term ending in November 2023, and accept Commissioner David Strang’s verbal resignation. 

The meeting was called after the entire Gunstock management team resigned in protest of poor treatment by former GAC members Peter Ness and Strang two weeks ago. Kiedaisch also tendered his resignation after the management team exited the meeting. The following day, the mountain’s staff rallied behind the managers, with many refusing to work, and some resigning in solidarity. 

Operations at the mountain were shut down for nearly 12 days, raising questions about many jobs and the impact on the local economy. Eventually, Commissioners Jade Wood and Doug Lambert joined the staff in demanding Ness' and Strang’s resignations. Ness resigned prior to the emergency meeting, and Strang said he would resign once a replacement for Kiedaisch was found, to maintain a quorum of three members of the commission.